Socio-Economic-Caste census from Tuesday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Socio-Economic-Caste census 2011, aimed at finalising the beneficiaries for the 12th Five Year Plan and framing Central- sponsored schemes will commence in the state on Tuesday, with the aid of  Tablet PCs. It is for the first time that a caste-based census is being undertaken in independent India. The massive hi-tech exercise covering 68,393 enumeration blocks in the state will be categorised as urban and rural and around 20,000 Tablet PCs will be used for the purpose, Local Self Governance Principal Secretary James Varghese told reporters here on Monday. While 18,832 enumerators have been drafted for the exercise, 3,162 supervisors will also be on the rolls. Data will be compiled in the Tablet PCs using separate questionnaires for rural and urban households. If an year was needed earlier to complete the census process, transferring data everyday from Tablet PCs would see to it that the the exercise is completed in 40 day’s time. The data will be used for various needs later, he said. Rural development commissioner M Nandakumar, who is also the nodal officer of the census in the state, said that an operator will accompany enumerators and make the feeding of data faster. To a query, he said that there was a provision in the questionnaire to state that a person was not willing to disclose his caste identity. G Anil Kumar of the Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Kanjikode, and state co-ordinator of the project, said that the intention of the exercise is just to compile valid data. The Tablet PCs will utilise image data of the last census for comparison with the present data, he said. While the national census was carried out on a wide mode, the present census will be on ward basis. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the census drive at the collectorate in Kannur at 2 p.m. Rural Development Minister K C Joseph will preside over the function. Opposition deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, K Sudhakaran MP, A P Abdullakutty and others will attend. A Stanley, rural joint development commissioner, also attended the news conference.